Ex-Temple med school official sentenced in fraud case

Former Temple University physician and medical school assistant dean Joseph J. Kubacki was sentenced in federal court Thursday to more than seven years in prison after being convicted by a jury of defrauding Medicare, private insurers, and patients by filing false medical claims.

Kubacki, 63, was convicted in August of 150 counts of health-care fraud, wire fraud, and making false statements in health-care matters. U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno also ordered Kubacki to repay Temple about $1 million and patients a total of $5,445 for co-pays they should not have been billed for.

Kubacki was chairman of the ophthalmology department at Temple University School of Medicine and also served as an assistant dean. According to prosecutors, he submitted false claims amounting to $4.5 million in charges for services to patients he did not see or evaluate between 1996 and 2007.

"Health-care fraud costs the public billions of dollars a year," U.S. Attorney Zane Memeger said in a statement. "But when an accomplished member of the medical profession perpetrates this type of fraud, the costs cannot be measured in dollars alone. Fraud erodes public trust, and today's sentence should send a message that regardless of your stature in society, the government will seek significant prison time for violating that trust."

Nick DiGiulio, special agent in charge for the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General, said: "We rely on honest citizens and health-care workers to turn in dishonest people. We want people to call our hotline," 800-447-8477.

Temple personnel discovered Kubacki's actions and turned him in to prosecutors. Public and private insurers are being reimbursed by Temple nearly $1.8 million.

"Kubacki acted on his own initiative and in defiance of Temple's repeated compliance training about proper billing method," university spokesman Ray Betzner said via e-mail. "Temple trusted Kubacki, and Kubacki abused that trust."

Kubacki's attorney, Judson Aaron, said Kubacki's previously distinguished career ended as a "human tragedy."

Contact David Sell at 215-854-4506 or dsell@phillynews.com, or follow on Twitter @PhillyPharma. Read his "PhillyPharma" blog on philly.com.